Sewing-machine shuttle



L. E. WEAVER.

SEWING MACHINE SHUTTLE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-15.1918.

Patented Dec. 30,1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' LUCIUS E. WEAVER, OF EAST HAMPTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THEOPHILUS KING, 011 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SEWING-MACHINE SHUTTLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

Application filed November 15, 1918. Serial No. 262,703.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUCIUS E. WEAVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Hampton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machine Shuttles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a sewing-machine shuttle having a bobbin chamber adapted to receive a ready-wound bobbin composed of a paper cop tube and a winding of thread thereon.

The invention has for its object first, to provide a shuttle of this character with improved means for controlling the rotation of the bobbin and preventing it from r0- tating loosely and delivering loose thread.

The invention also has for its object to fully utilizethe space in the bobbin chamher for the storage of thread, so that the maximum yardage of thread may be contained in the shuttle, thus enabling the shuttle to be used for a relatively long period without replenishment.

The invention is embodied in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-

Figure 1 is a plan View of a shuttle embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, showing the shuttle body open for the reception of a bobbin.

big. 4 is a plan view of the bOknJlIl-BIT- gaging disk, hereinafter referred to.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 of Fig. 4:.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a ready-wound bobbin.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 4, showing the bobbin cop tube by dotted lines.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate a well known type of shuttle body used with the Singer sewingmachine, and known as the Singer I M shuttle. This particular type of shuttle is used for convenience of illustration, and it will be understood that my invention hereinafter described may be applied to shuttle bodies otherwise constructed.

The shuttle body here shown comprises two sections 2 and 3, hinged together at 4, said sections. forming a circular bobbin chamber 5, adapted to receive a readywound bobbin, composed of a winding 6 of thread, and a paper cop tube 7 on which the thread is wound.

An abutment 8 overhangs the central portion of the chamber at one end thereof, and an annular flange 9 overhangs the margin of the opposite end of the chamber. The abutment 8 is a central portion of a resilient cross bar or spring, which is adapted, as in the well known Singer shuttle, to hold the sections 2 and 3 either closed or open, the shuttle body being adapted to be opened, as indicated by Fig. 3, to permit the insertion of a bobbin.

In carrying out my invention, I combine with a shuttle body characterized as above described, a bobbin-engagin and controlling means next described, said means including a disk 12 rotatable'in the chamber 5 in frictional contact with the flange 9, and a telescopic stud comprising an outer member 13 rigidly attached at one end to the disk 12, and formed externally to enter and engage the cop tube 7, and an inner member r14: arranged to bear on the abutment 8 and movable relatively to the outer member to vary the length of the stud in such manner as to maintain an unvarying frictional contact between the disk 12 and the flange 9.

In the preferred embodiment of the im vention here illustrated, the outer member 13 is tubular, and has an inwardly projecting shoulder 15 near one end of its bore, said shoulder forming an abutment for one end of a spring 16. The inner member 14 has a free sliding fit in the bore of the outer member 13, and is enlarged at one end portion to form a shoulder 17 against which the opposite end of the spring 16 bears. The member 14? has a reduced portion 14 surrounded by the spring 16, and headed or upset at one end to form a bur or flange which limits the projection of the member l t by the spring, as clearly shown by Figs. 2 and 5.

To adapt the shuttle for use, the operator opens the shuttle body, as indicated by Fig. 3, and after removing the disk 12 and its telescopic stud, and withdrawing the tube 7 of a spent bobbin from the outer member of the stud, presses a filled bobbin in place tion of the disk 12 and the flange 9. The

body section 2 has'the usual inwardly projecting flange 18 contacting with the cross bar or abutment 8. "When the disk 12 is pressed against the flange 9, the side of the bobbin adjacent to the flange 18 is held slightly separated from said flange, as shown by Fig. 2, so that the rotation of the bobbin is retarded chiefly by the disk 12 and flange 9. A delicate and unvarying tension is thus maintained on the bobbin, preventing its loose rotation and the delivery of loose coils of thread. By unvarying, I mean that the tension does not decrease as the diameter of the bobbin decreases.

The outer member 13 of the telescopic stud is preferably formed to positively engage the inner surface of the cop tube 7, and thus prevent the cop tube from turning independently on the stud. To this end, the external surface of the outer member 13 is made non-cylindrical and preferably polygonal, so that it is provided with a plurality of salient angles 20, adapted to indent the cop tube, as shown by Fig. 8.

It will be seen that the ready-wound bobbin does not require two heads applied to opposite ends of the bobbin, in accordance with the usual practice. While the disk 12 constitutes the equivalent of one of the usual heads, the companion head usually applied to the opposite end of the bobbin is omitted, and is rendered unnecessary because the telescopic stud supports said end out of contact with any part of the shuttle body, hence this end does not require protection by a head. The space occupied by the omitted head may therefore be utilized for the storage of thread, the bobbin being correspondingly enlarged or lengthened.

I claim:

l. A shuttle comprising a body having a circular bobbin chamber, an abutment overhanging the central portion of the chamber at one end thereof, and an annular flange overhanging the margin of the opposite end of the chamber, a disk rotatable in said chamber in frictional contact with said flange, and a telescopic stud comprising an outer member rigidly attached at one end to said disk and formed externally to enter and so engage the cop-tube of a ready-wound bobbin as to cause said outer member and disk to rotate with the bobbin, and an inner member arranged to bear on said abutment and movable relatively to the outer member to vary the length of the stud and maintain an unvarying frictional contact between said disk and flange.

2. A shuttle comprising a body having a circular bobbin chamber, an abutment overhangin the central portion of the chamber at one end thereof, and an annular flange overhanging the margin of the opposite end of the chamber, a disk rotatable in said chamber in frictional contact with said flange, and a telescopic stud comprising a tubular outer member rigidly attached at one end to said disk and formed externally to enter and so engage the cop-tube of a ready-wound bobbin as to cause the said outer member and disk to rotate with the bobbin, and a' spring-pressed inner member longitudinally movable in the outer member and normally projected yieldingly from the latter, said inner member bearing on said abutment and maintaining an unvarying yielding frictional contact between said disk and flange.

8. A shuttle comprising a body having a circular bobbin chamber, an abutment overhanging the central portion of the chamber at one end thereof, and an annular flange overhanging the margin of the opposite end of the chamber, a disk rotatable in said chamber in frictional contact with said flange, and a telescopic stud comprising an outer member rigidly attached at one end to said disk and having a non-cylindrical external surface formed to positively engage the inner surface of the cop-tube of a readywound bobbin, and an inner member arranged to bear on said abutment and mov able relatively to the outer member to vary the length of the stud and maintain frictional contact between said disk and flange.

In testimony whereof I have afliXed my signature.

LUCIUS E. WVEAVER. 

